Description

The Highlander; Cthulhu Enigma

Inspired by a Scottish friend who plays the Bagpipes and my current reading of H.P.Lovecraft, at its simplest, this film presents an unexpected twist in the Highlander story.
It could also be seen as portraying the loss that befalls those who seek gain at any cost, as the Highlander prophecy may still ring true that ‘there shall be only One’ but it might not be the One that was expected…
On a deeper level, the film provides an opportunity to consider the inherent violence of any cultural ‘Grand Narrative’, to think about Moral Dualism, Polytheism, Pantheism and the Eternally Unknowable Infinity.

(more about Cthulhu’s Religious Origins and Carl Sagan’s view/Scientific Origins and Influences; Von Daineken’s Chariots Of The Gods & Scientology/ and Cthulhu in relation to Moral Dualism, here at The Dance Of Life; http://bit.ly/vAaIoB )

Connor Macleod embodies the balance of good, although he is ultimately unknowable as he will become a part of the recombined Entity with Ultimate Power over the Earth and all its peoples, like a Monotheistic God.
Cthulhu does not conform to any anthropomorphic outlook but represents the indescribable ambivalence of unknowable universal forces, which as Lovecraft was deeply suspicious of modern technology and the poorly-understood powers it vested in mankind, possibly presents a caution for scientific exploration that charges ahead where angels may fear to tread, currently for example into the genetic or sub atomic realms. However as Quantum theories on the nature of existence claim that our act of observation influences the outcome of any given situation, by extrapolation it is easy to understand that if we are entrenched in specific perspectives, we may falsely assess any situation to conform with our own views and thereby be closed to the infinite alternatives that could have existed otherwise. Particularly relevant here is that the tenebrous Cthulhu hails from an effulgent pantheon of Old Other Gods and as such for me represents their pluralist Polytheist Pantheism.
In this context, my film catharticaly presents through the symbolic sacrifice of Connor (the good) and the unexpected victory of Cthulhu (the malevolent), the existential Gift of Uncertainty (rather than a possibly ‘incorrect’ and potentially limiting certainty) and an opportunity to look beyond the primitive myopia which magnifies the earth but ignores the vast Universal background, from the comfort of our own homes.
‘To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are the springs of delight and beauty’.
And we may hope that the ‘real’ Cthulhu whoever he may be, might sleep awhile longer….
Ia Ia Cthulhu Fhtagn!

Grateful thanks;
Rik Xaris for providing (and playing) the Bagpipes,
Sredni Eel for providing Cthulhu with permissions,
& Laufey Markstein of Trident for providing The Well of The Abyss and Initiate Altar, along with invaluable technical advice and creative input.

Also Thanks for permission to film at;
Gaia Rising, co Enchantress Sao,
Dawn Of Souls at Free City of Braavos co Titania Halasy.